Most of the great sportscar drivers have tasted success in the Le Mans 24 Hours, but such is the nature and challenge of the event that there are some notable absentees from the winners list. So who were the best losers?

To decide on our top six, we looked at a number of factors. The key ones were how well the drivers got on at Le Mans, the circumstances of their failures, and the amount of success scored elsewhere.

And before you cry foul on the absence of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima after their dramatic late Toyota failure in 2016, we have excluded current drivers.

Kevin Turner is the editor of Autosport magazine, having previously been the editor of sister publication Motorsport News. He joined the magazine in 2006 after writing club race reports as a freelancer while studying history at the University of York. He has also covered international events for both the magazine and the website, including the Le Mans 24 Hours. Kevin covered the British Touring Car Championship from 2011 to '14 and has a keen interest in the historic racing scene. He lives in Fleet with his wife and two children.

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